YARMOUTH — Unbeaten Yarmouth turned it up a notch in the second half to pull out a 2-1 victory against Cape Elizabeth in a Western Maine Conference boys’ soccer game Friday night.
Max Coury and Jack Jones scored a little more than seven minutes apart to give the Clippers (7-0) the lead.
“At halftime our kids realized they didn’t need to do anything but play harder,” Yarmouth Coach Mike Hagerty said. “Cape came out hard, winning 50-50 balls and playing well. In the first half I think we were thinking too much and not playing soccer. At halftime we said let’s forget about tactics and let’s go win some balls.”
Yarmouth, the three-time defending state champion, made it 1-1 in the 52nd minute when Coury’s hard shot from inside the penalty area went in off a defender hustling back to the line to help goalie Sean Agrodnia.
In the 59th minute, Jones moved into the goalie box to push the rebound of Luke Groothoff’s direct kick from near the top of the bubble into the goal to snap the tie.
“I don’t know what the possession was in the first half, but in the second half I think we came out and played territorially smarter,” said Hagerty. “Even though we didn’t play poorly in the first half, I didn’t think we played as fast as we can.”
The Clippers picked up the pace in the second half, forcing Cape Elizabeth to spend most of its time playing defense.
“They had more possession than we did,” Cape Elizabeth Coach Ben Raymond said. “That’s what they tried to do, and they’ve got a couple of guys up top who are very good.”
The Clippers held an edge in play in the first half, when they had an 8-4 advantage in shots and a 7-0 edge in corner kicks, but it was the Capers (3-2-1) who clung to a 1-0 lead.
That goal came in the 16th minute when John O’Connor sent a rising shot from near the top of the bubble in off the fingertips of the leaping goalie, Cal Owen. Matt Concannon set up the goal with a short pass, one of a series during a Cape counter-attack.
The Clippers brought the ball into the Cape Elizabeth end on numerous occasions in the first half but were unable to get the ball past Agrondia, who made seven of his 11 saves in the first half.
In the 15th minute, Agrodnia deflected Eric LaBrie’s blast from the right side of the penalty area over the crossbar.
Five minutes later, Agrodnia came far off his line to stop a promising run by LaBrie.
David Hare, a Cape Elizabeth defender, cleared the ball away before another Yarmouth attacker could pounce on it and shoot at an open net.
“Sean does a great job and he played really well in goal,” Raymond said.
“He communicated well with his teammates. He came off his line well and made some great saves.”
Owen finished with five saves for the Clippers.
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